Disclaimer: Ugh, I own nothing.
Summary: Harry travels back in time and joins his parents in their sixth year at Hogwarts. Not as stupid as it sounds (or at least I hope so). OotP spoilers!
Author note: Ok - so this is the second edited chapter - thanks once again Aln-Mai:)
Chapter 2
Harry entered the kitchen. His cheeks were flushed and his hair messed by the wind. He looked much better than he had that very same morning. Still, there was some sadness in his eyes. It had never really left them.
He was surprised to see the Hogwarts headmaster sitting on one of the stools and apparently talking quietly to Ron's little owl, Pig.
"Headmaster? Hello?" he said uncertainly.
"Well, hello, Harry. How are you?" There was some amount of concern in the old man's voice. "I watched you while you played Quidditch in the garden. I guess that you are little bit better now, aren't you?"
"Yes, I'm all right, thank you."
"Well, best wishes then."
"Thanks..."
"Now, Harry, I have also a present for you—something that hopefully will help you cope with what you've been through—and become truly 'all right.'"
Harry raised his eyebrows. That was quite unexpected. What could Albus Dumbledore possibly give him?
"Come with me, Harry—I can see you are interested—I believe you should first see it alone, but who knows, maybe you will choose to show it to your friends later."
Harry followed the wizard upstairs, to the room which used to belong to Percy. To his surprise, the room was absolutely dark.
"Pastorale terminus," said Dumbledore, and just after that, the floor of the room started to shine with different colors.
"Look down, Harry." Harry looked down.
"What you see now is an effect of a quite powerful spell. It won't wear off until midnight, or maybe even longer. It allows you to see the past events connected with people you have feelings for. Only those who have died, mind you; you can't possibly use it to spy on your friends or anything like that. But I believe you will find better purposes. Have a good time, Harry." With that, Dumbledore Disapparated from the room, and Harry was left alone.
He bent on his knees and looked down. It looked like the floor had been enchanted into some sort of a screen. The blurry image started to clear up a little. Slowly, Harry started to recognize events in front of him. It was a wedding. A big white limousine arrived in front of some church. A bride got out. And Harry recognized her immediately. It was his mother. Her hair was pinned in some sort of fancy hairstyle, with a lot of flowers. She wore a white, simple dress and looked both happy and nervous.
Harry felt a sudden dryness in his throat while he followed his mother into the church. There was bright, happy music, and his father was standing next to the altar, dressed in something that looked like dress robes and a suit mixed together. Next to him stood Sirius, with a wild grin. Further in the back, Harry noticed many other people he knew: Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Dumbledore, McGonagall, the Longbottoms, Moody and even Aunt Petunia. All of them looked visibly younger.
Harry kneeled, staring. There were tears on his cheeks. He remained like this, not moving, absolutely oblivious to the world around him, with his gaze transfixed on the different images shown on the floor.
It was around five o'clock when the guests started to feel impatient. They knew, of course, that Harry was supposed to receive a very special gift, and were not surprised by the fact that he had disappeared. But he had been gone for more then three hours now, and they couldn't help wondering what he had gotten.
Most anxious were, of course, Ron and Hermione. Both of them shared the feeling that Harry should show them the present—after all, they were his closest friends.
"Maybe it's some sort of book—I don't know..." Hermione said.
"Come on—if it were you who disappeared, Hermione, then I would be sure it was a book—but Harry?!"
"Well, if it was something really interesting..."
"Yeah, right! You know what I think? I think we should go and check."
"No, Ron! Remember what Dumbledore said? Let him just be alone..."
"God, he can have fun with this whatever-Dumbledore-gave-him stuff some other day! I mean, look, everybody wants him to come down. He has candles to blow—it's his birthday party after all! Do whatever you want, but I'm going up to check on him."
"OK—let's go, then..."
And so they left, telling everybody that they just wanted to see what new pranks Fred and George were up to. Soon they were upstairs, in front of Percy's room.
"He's very quiet, isn't he?" Hermione noted.
"Maybe he's just fallen asleep," Ron said with a smirk, but there was a hint of worry in his voice.
Hermione knocked delicately and opened the door. For a moment, they just stared at the scene in front of them.
Harry was lying on the floor, hands under his chin, watching something below.
Both Ron and Hermione looked down and gasped.
"I read about it..." Hermione whispered. "Pastorale charm—it's awfully time consuming—I can't believe it—now I understand why Harry didn't come down..."
"So what exactly is going on?" Ron asked, not bothering to stay quiet.
Harry raised his head, finally noticing the two teenagers who had just entered. He had some tears on his cheeks, but he was smiling.
"Hi, guys..." he said. "It's my parents, look..."
Ron and Hermione didn't need any encouragement; they were already observing the images below.
They could see a young couple, obviously the Potters. Lily held a little baby—probably Harry—in her arms, while James was telling her something animatedly, making wide gestures and smiling happily. Then he said something that made Lily smile and she gave him Harry. James took the baby and kissed him on the forehead. Lily grinned and kissed James on the cheek.
"Wow..." was all that Ron managed to say.
"Your parents were so cheerful..." Hermione stated, glancing at Harry, to see his reaction at what she had just said.
"Yeah—I've seen their wedding, you know? And Sirius was there..."
"Wow, Harry! That's just so cool!" Ron exclaimed. "And did you see them becoming Animagi?"
"No—I didn't get to the school years, yet..."
"Then let's see it! Imagine, Marauders in action!"
At first, Harry was not so sure that he wanted to show his friends what Sirius and James had been like. He still could remember what he had seen in Snape's Pensieve. But then, there was no reason to hide it. He was with his friends, after all, and they would accept him, no matter how badly his father had treated Snape. In fact, Ron hated "the evil git"—as he usually referred to Hogwarts' Potions Master—so much, that he might find Marauders' behavior amusing.
Harry looked at the floor. He knew instinctively what to do. He pictured his parents and Hogwarts in his mind, and slowly, the images on the floor started to move.
The new image they saw was Hogwarts castle. The sun was high and everything seemed peaceful.
The only problem was that there was nobody there.
"Well?" Hermione asked. "What's going on?"
"I'm not sure—something must have gone wrong."
"Maybe you should say some incantation?"
"No, Dumbledore would have told me if I had to..."
"What's the point in showing us Hogwarts without people there, anyway?" Ron said in irritated voice.
Hermione answered immediately, "Oh, Ron, don't be stupid—it's not our Hogwarts, it must somewhere in the past—the trees look smaller."
"Then why don't we see Marauders, Miss I-know-better?"
"You wanted to see them in their Animagus form. Maybe they're transformed?"
"No!" Harry interrupted "They're not there. I just don't get it! Why doesn't it listen?"
He sat on his knees and pressed his hands to the floor. Slowly, as if it were an enchantment, he began to mutter: "Show me my parents! I want to see my parents! When they were my age! At Hogwarts!"
Suddenly, something strange started to happen. A stream of light bound Harry's hands to the castle below them. Images began to whirl, and suddenly they were all surrounded by colors. Everything whirled faster and faster around the group of teenagers. It got to hard to stand, and one by one, the young wizards finally blacked out.
